1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a container clamping and holding arrangement for moving containers, such as bottles, cans, and similar containers, for holding products, such as beverages.
2. Background Information
Background information is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily admit that subsequently mentioned information and publications are prior art.
Container clamps are used for grasping containers, for example, beverage containers. In this situation, the container clamps can be arranged in a transport star or starwheel, or in another type of carrier, which is installed in a container treatment system. The container clamps are positioned to grasp containers, such as a bottle or can for beverages, and to hold and guide them during transport through the container treatment system.
Such container clamps are known. Some types of container clamps comprise two clamp arms which are configured such as to correspond to one another. Each of the pair of clamp arms is rotatably mounted on a rotational axis. Each of the container clamps further comprises a gripper section for grasping the containers and a control section located opposite the gripper section for controlling the clamp arms. The pivot movement of the clamp arms, i.e., the opening and closing of the clamp arms, is carried out by a spring and a joint connection positioned at the control section, wherein the movement is initiated by means of a control rod connected to the joint connection. In this situation, the opening of the container clamps usually takes place by a drawing movement on the control rod in the direction away from the gripper section, and closing in the reverse direction.
These types of container clamps can exhibit the disadvantage that a simple and reliable centering of the container in the middle or centered position between the clamp arms is not essentially ensured. In addition, the structural configuration of the container clamps and of the control arrangement can be rather elaborate, as a result of which the cleaning of the container clamps can be difficult. Further, a container clamp exchange can be quite time-consuming, since both the bearing arrangement of the container clamps as well as the control rod must be or should be dismantled and reinstalled later.